Sally K. Ride

BIRTHDAY:
May 26, 1951

ABOUT HER
When Sally Ride answered a newspaper ad soliciting applications from
young scientists for NASA, she didn't know she would be the first American
woman in space. However, at the age of 26 she was already well prepared
to become an astronaut as she was a good athlete in tennis, baseball,
and football and a scientist with her Ph.D. in physics from Stanford
University.

Up until the year
Sally Ride applied to NASA, no woman had been accepted into its program.
That year NASA accepted five women into the astronaut class. Dr. Ride
was chosen by Commander Robert Crippen in 1982 for the crew of the Challenger.

In October 1983
Dr. Ride flew her last mission on the Challenger and accepted a job
as a physicist at the Stanford University Center for International Security
and Arms Control. She continues to speak on behalf of U.S. space efforts.

AWARDS/HONORS

First U.S. woman
to fly in space

Ph.D. from Stanford
University specializing in general relativity and free-electron lasers